For Dumars, it was a choice of spending money to acquire assets while
they were available, or not spending the money and seeing his buying
power decrease dramatically. Gordon and Villanueva have had seasons no
one could have projected, but to judge them on what they are right now
– as opposed to what they showed prior to this season and where their
career arcs project them – is abject foolishness.

(On Gordon): "But, really, he’s reasonably healthy at this point and still laying
bricks at a ridiculously high rate while contributing little else in
the way of defense (big surprise there). Signed in part to shore up
Detroit’s game from behind the arc, Gordon is shooting a career-low 30%
from three-point land; ladies and gentlemen, that’s a full 10 points
below his previous low mark, set as a rookie back in 2004-05 ..."

(On Villanueva): "Charlie V is a backup, too, but the difference is he’s not playing
behind a former All-Star (Hamilton) like Gordon is. No, Villanueva has
been soundly outplayed by new fan-favorite Jonas Jerebko,
the Swedish rookie destined for All-NBA Rookie First Team honors next
month. He’s also arguably been outplayed by Jason Maxiell, sometimes
even Chris Wilcox. That’s not supposed to happen."

Wow. That's two very different opinions, although we should note: Langlois' job is to pretend all things Pistons are gravy, and businessisgood. And I have to say, no disrespect, but I seriously question the NBA knowledge of anyone who says this:

We can all agree that LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh are the
three no-brainers who’ll command max dollars – though I’ll allow for
some sentiment that if Bosh is going to take up one-third of a team’s
salary-cap allotment, you’d better have a bunch of players
outperforming their contracts in order to be a serious contender.

Seriously? You're going to do Bosh like that? You didn't notice the MVP numbers this year, the fact that he's surrounded by an incredibly flawed team in Toronto with two perimeter players in Calderon/Turkoglu who make Will Bynum look like Dennis Johnson defensively and a seven-foot center who struggles to out-rebound Rodney Stuckey most nights, yet said team is still a playoff team? That doesn't speak to Bosh's credentials as a franchise cornerstone? Name one Toronto Raptor who's even close to being an All-Star besides Bosh. You can't.

But I digress. Back to the point: were the Villanueva/Gordon signings failures?

Production-wise, you have to say yes. Finance-wise, as Bob Ballard showed, you have to also say yes -- the Pistons are invested in a roster that quite simply has not shown can play well together with no financial flexibility to add pieces.

I don't disagree with Langlois' premise that the Pistons were not going to lure LeBron or Wade or Bosh to Detroit -- all three, who have off-court marketing/stardom ambitions on top of their basketball goals, were unlikely to settle on Detroit as a preferred destination. The key, though, was the flexibility -- the Pistons are a 20ish win team right now. They have $20 million invested in guys who come off the bench, both of whom have been playing 20ish minutes or less per game.

This is not to say either is a bad player, but would the Pistons be significantly worse this year without either? It's doubtful, and that's why the signings have been unsuccessful -- not because the Pistons could've landed LeBron or Wade instead, but because one avenue to improve a roster that admittedly needed improvement has been closed off -- they are left with basically draft and trades, both of which are far less sure bets than free agency.

As for Gordon and Villanueva themselves, they can still work here. I don't think either signed on in Detroit to be bench players -- who would sign contracts like they did and not expect to come in and be primary options on the team? While they certainly haven't played well, can you really fault them as much as the organization who had extensive film to look at on both of them and vast access to scouting reports showing the type of style they play and thrive in? They both, although young, have track records long enough to show when they're at their best. You don't pay players as key cornerstone guys, then have them play a completely different style than they're accustomed. It simply never works.

Gordon and Villanueva are good NBA players. They can both be key components on good teams, but they simply have not been put in situations this year that take advantage of the things they bring to the table.